This is in response to former Macedonia Mayor Don Kuchta’s response to my commentary on the City’s Charter Review Commission (see letter to the editor here).
There were several reasons why the original 2006 Fire ‘District’ talks ended. I wrote about only one of those reasons because the point that I was attempting to make was the fact that the City’s Charter does not allow for any type of Safety or Fire District. I did not elaborate on the other reasons because I did not want to digress from the subject of my concern.
Anyone who has researched Macedonia’s Charter can clearly see that there are no provisions for forming any safety district what-so-ever, especially under Article 8. The City and Mayor Kuchta were fully aware of this as evidenced by their own meeting minutes where Fire Chief Tim Black was quoted as stating, “A FIRE DISTRICT IS CONTRARY TO MACEDONIA’S CHARTER.”
The word “Regionalization” has been kicked around for over twelve years, right up to the present. Our current Fire and EMS agreement with Macedonia has been described as regionalization, which is NOT TRUE. Northfield Center and Sagamore Hills entered into separate CONTRACTED SERVICES with the City with each township paying their respective contracted costs to the City. If a true district is desired then the City of Macedonia must change their Charter.
Mayor Kuchta stated in his comments that the current Charter Review Commission was, “assigned specific tasks needing immediate resolution” as opposed to “a full Charter Review that is scheduled every 5 years.” That statement alone shows that there have been at least two Full Reviews since this concern was first brought to light yet it was never addressed, let alone resolved. The opportunity has once again presented itself and one can only assume by the former Mayor’s comments that another opportunity will, once again, be knowingly ignored.
It’s unfortunate that Mayor Kuchta found my comments “degrading to Macedonia.” My only intent was to show a real problem and a simple path to resolving it. If Macedonia’s internal politics prevents or delays the mandated Charter changes then that is their business. And with all due respect, it is also their responsibility for impeding any future regionalization talks or plans!
Paul G. Buescher
